Sing: We Light A Candle by Richard Bruxvoort-Colligan

Psalm 124

If you had not sided with us, LORD,
……..we all know where we’d have ended up.

If we had not had you on our side
……..when people turned against us,
…………….attacking with the fury of a wounded shark,
……..they would have made mince meat out of us.

Their frenzied rage would have dragged us under,
……..their lust for blood would have torn us apart.
The thrashing waters would have closed over us,
……..hiding the violence,
…………….concealing our fate.

All the credit and all the honours go to you, LORD;
……..it was you who saved our flesh
…………….from the teeth of our enemies. 

Thanks to you, we have shaken off their grip,
……..and soared to safety, as free as a bird.
Their savage attack was repelled,
……..and we have escaped unharmed.

It is you, LORD, the creator of heaven and earth,
……..who guarantees our safety.

©2000 Nathan Nettleton LaughingBird.net

Sing – You Are The Light of The World by Cathy Pino

Story – Miriam Hides Moses

Sing – More Light by Christopher Grundy

Bible Readings

This week’s scripture readings are:

• Exodus 1:8-2:10
• Psalm 124
• Matthew 16:13-20

We’ve focussed on the Exodus story for this week’s resources.

Listen: We Shall Overcome

Sing: Be Still My Soul

Reflection

Prayers for Others

Dear Heavenly Father,
We give thanks and praise for your wonderful love and compassion.
Thank you for answered prayers.

Lord, across our beautiful world there is trouble,
many have become infected with the Coronavirus, and the death toll is vast.
Many have lost employment and businesses have closed.
Whole states have been locked down and borders closed to travellers.
People are weary of the restrictions
and look for different ways to supplement their income.
Mental health is on the rise and tempers are frayed.

Help us to contact those we know with a friendly call or visit,
a casserole or cake to make life brighter and ease some of the stress in their lives.

Give us hope Lord, that there will be an end to this pandemic
and that a satisfactory vaccine is developed, ready for use in the near future.

We pray for all who are feeling depressed, for those who are disheartened,
for the unemployed, the lonely, and the forgotten.
Give them hope for a brighter and meaningful future.

Loving God, we bring before you all who are in need of your healing touch today.
We pray for the terminally ill, those going through chemotherapy and radiotherapy,
those whose independence is slowly slipping away,
and those who have difficulty with memory.
Be with them Lord, and give them comfort, strength and compassion.

You call us to pray and work for peace.
We pray for those who lead the different nations,
that they might rule with justice and concern for all.
Where there is division between nations,
let cool heads prevail for continued world peace.

We pray for ourselves, that with your Holy Spirit working through us,
we may reflect your glory and love to others.

Surprise our limited understanding with new glimpses of your love and compassion.

May we grow in your grace, in Jesus name. Amen

Pauline Loughhead

Sing: Goodness is Stronger Than Evil by Desmond Tutu & John Bell

Sending

Loving God

Let us hear the voice of those crying for justice

and be filled with compassion.

Let us hear the voice of the children of our community

and be filled with compassion.

Let us hear your voice calling out to us

and may we answer your call.

Welcome to this week’s worship resources. This week we encourage you to dive into the scripture and hear again the story of Jesus walking on the water and reflect on how this story meets us this week.

For those of you who want to make a space to worship on Sunday we’ve put together an order of service that you can use to reflect in music, read the scripture and pray in worship,

For those of you who feel that you only have cracks and crevices in your week available to intentionally spend time with God we’ve created this material as a kind of playlist for you to use through your week to dive in and out of when you can make space in your work, home, car or whenever you find yourself open to spend time with God.

Perhaps you might choose one prayer to pray daily, or commit to listening to two songs each day, or reading one of the bible verses every two days?

Readings:

Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Psalm 67
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Matthew 15: (10-20), 21-28

Prayers:

• All Age Prayer
• Prayer For Others
• Prayer of Adoration & Confession

Story:

Here are three stories that reflect on the theme of Blessing this week. Perhaps they might be stories to reflect on together at the end of the day this week, or over the course of Sunday.

Singing The Scriptures

This week’s singing the scripture playlist provides many ways to reflect on Psalm 67 and 133, both songs of blessing.

Reflection – On Blessings

Faith At Home

Activities to help you reflect on Blessings at home this week, they would provide good conversation at the table or activities to do with others over the course of the weekend.

Go Deeper:

This week, if you’d like to spend more time on Psalm 67 we’d like to point you to three commentaries on the Working Preacher website.

• Commentary, Psalm 67, James K. Mead
• Commentary, Psalm 67, Nancy Koester
• Commentary, Psalm 67, Rolf Jacobson

If you’d like to reflect ton the other bible readings for this week here are a few other links:

• The Thing About Dogs, a reflection on Matthew 15
• By The Well, Podcast reflecting on this week’s readings

Welcome to this week’s worship resources. This week we encourage you to dive into the scripture and hear again the story of Jesus walking on the water and reflect on how this story meets us this week.

For those of you who want to make a space to worship on Sunday we’ve put together an order of service that you can use to reflect in music, read the scripture and pray in worship,

For those of you who feel that you only have cracks and crevices in your week available to reflect on God’s word, to pray and meditate or to hear the stories of faith then we’ve created this material as a playlist for you to use through your week to dive in and out of when you can make space in your work, home, car or whenever you find yourself open to spend time with God.

Perhaps you might choose one prayer to pray daily, or commit to listening to two songs each day, or reading one of the bible verses every two days?

Order of Service

Worship material for August 09, 2020

Readings

• Genesis 37:1-4,12-28
• Psalm 105:1-6, 16-22, 45b
• Matthew 14:22-33

Prayers

• Call to Worship – An invitation to pray and meditate for the day
• Prayer of Adoration and Confession – An invitation to pray at the beginning of every day
• A Prayer For Others – A prayer for our world, our community
• All Age Prayer – An invitation to pray at the table every day
• A Blessing – an invitation to pray at the end of each day

Song

This week’s singing the scripture playlist is quite long, perhaps you might find some time each day to listen to a couple songs and reflect on your day and your journey with God through the week.

Worshipping with Family

This week’s reading tells the story of Jesus walking on the water and the disciples on a boat. This week how about creating a boat in your house? Use cushions, pillows, sheets, and if you’d like paint, pencils, paper, cardboard to build a boat together.

Then, get in the boat and imagine yourself sailing in the storm and seeing Jesus on the water. Perhaps the Holy Moly video below can help you tell the story.

For conversation:

• When you hear this story what questions do you have?
• What do you think the disciples were thinking?
• Do you think you would have jumped out of the boat? Why? Why Not? Why do you think Peter did?
• What are you afraid of? (spend some time on this, it can be a very helpful conversation with your family)
• How can we face our fears together?
• Can we pray to God to help us with what frightens us? – Pray together

Send us photos of your boat when you’ve finished.

Story

These videos are to help you hear the story of Joseph and of Jesus Walking on Water in different ways. This week’s material require you to use a password to access the videos, we’ve included the password in the community email.

The Story of Jesus Walking on Water – Holy Moly

The Story of Joseph Part 01 – Holy Moly

The Story of Joseph – Re:Form

Reflection on the Gospel Reading

Go Deeper

If you would like to go deeper into the readings for this week here are some suggestions.

• Sermon: Rod Barnes on Walking on Water
• Podcast: By The Well – Episode 139
• Podcast and commentary – Working Preacher
• Podcast – Peter Walked on Water Too! – Richard Rohr
• Sermon – Nadia Bolz Weber, A Sermon Sarcastic & Serious

The following two videos reflect on fear and faith, you’ll need to use the same password shared in the community email.